Pregame chatter: Bobby Abreu (3 of 27 against Perez) is sitting so Duncan can play. … Carrie Proctor had a baby today, a boy who was named Cooper. Scott Proctor will be away from the team until Wednesday. … With the Cardinals having a day off, Dave Duncan and Chris Duncan will be at the game. … Joe Torre said Jose Molina would likely start on Thursday.

UPDATE, 7:55 p.m.: Phil Hughes was scratched from his start (it’s raining in Scranton) and will start tomorow, weather permitting.

UPDATE, 7:57 p.m.: Tomorrow is the 24th anniversary of the George Brett pine tar incident and the Royals are giving away t-shirts with pine tar stains. The PR people gave us all one. Pretty cool.

UPDATE, 9:05 p.m.: Tony Pena had dinner last night and lunch today with his son, K.C. shortstop Tony Pena Jr. This was the first time he had been able to see his boy play in person. â€œHeâ€™s my son; Iâ€™m his Dad. But when we go between those two white lines, I want to beat him,â€? he said. â€œObviously I want him to do well and lose the game. I donâ€™t want him to beat us. Itâ€™s tough for me.â€?

Pena is one of those guys who makes covering baseball fun. He always has something good to say. His kid just broke up Roger’s perfect game. So Tony is getting what he wants.

UPDATE, 9:46 p,m.: Here is some audio from Shelley Duncan. He is pretty psyched, his parents and brother are at the game.

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UPDATE, 10:42 p.m.: He’s the Viz and nobody beats him. Now it’s Mo to get them to within 5.5 games of Cleveland.

By the way, Johnny Damon is 6 of 12 with four doubles and seven RBI since Shelley Duncan came to town.